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Health insurance for the poor : initial impacts of Vietnam's health care fund for the poor

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  • Wagstaff, Adam

Abstract

Vietnam's Health Care Fund for the Poor (HCFP) uses government revenues to finance health care for the poor, ethnic minorities living in selected mountainous provinces designated as difficult, and all households living in communes officially designated as highly disadvantaged. The program, which started in 2003, did not as of 2004 include all these groups, but those who were included (about 15 percent of the population) were disproportionately poor. Estimates of the program's impact-obtained using single differences and propensity score matching on a trimmed sample-suggest that HCFP has substantially increased service utilization, especially in-patient care, and has reduced the risk of catastrophic spending. It has not, however, reduced average out-of-pocket spending, and appears to have had negligible impacts on utilization among the poorest decile.

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  • Wagstaff, Adam, 2007. "Health insurance for the poor : initial impacts of Vietnam's health care fund for the poor," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4134, The World Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:wbk:wbrwps:4134
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    Cited by:

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    2. Deuchert, Eva & Wunsch, Conny, 2010. "Evaluating Nationwide Health Interventions When Standard Before-After Doesn't Work: Malawi's ITN Distribution Program," IZA Discussion Papers 4896, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Andrés Ramírez Hassan & Johnatan Cardona Jimenez & Ramiro Cadavid Montoya, 2011. "The impact of subsidized health insurance on the poor in Colombia: Evaluating the case of Medellin," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 10602, Universidad EAFIT.
    4. Adam Wagstaff, 2010. "Social health insurance reexamined," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(5), pages 503-517, May.
    5. Bagnoli, Lisa, 2019. "Does health insurance improve health for all? Heterogeneous effects on children in Ghana," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 124(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Trong-Ha Nguyen & Suiwah Leung, 2013. "Dynamics of health insurance enrollment in Vietnam, 2004–2006," Journal of the Asia Pacific Economy, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(4), pages 594-614.
    7. Nguyen Viet, Cuong, 2010. "Public health services and health care utilization in Viet Nam," MPRA Paper 33610, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Dip, Juan Antonio & Gamboa, Luis Fernando, 2019. "The heterogeneity of effects of preschool education on cognitive outcomes in Latin America," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), August.
    9. Wagstaff, Adam & Lindelow, Magnus & Jun, Gao & Ling, Xu & Juncheng, Qian, 2009. "Extending health insurance to the rural population: An impact evaluation of China's new cooperative medical scheme," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Palmer, Michael G., 2014. "Inequalities in Universal Health Coverage: Evidence from Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 64(C), pages 384-394.
    11. Lin Lin & Xianhua Zai, 2022. "The role of supply responses in public insurance expansion: evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," MPIDR Working Papers WP-2022-025, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany.
    12. Lohmann, Steffen & Lechtenfeld, Tobias, 2015. "The Effect of Drought on Health Outcomes and Health Expenditures in Rural Vietnam," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 432-448.
    13. Samuel S. Lieberman & Adam Wagstaff, 2009. "Health Financing and Delivery in Vietnam : Looking Forward," World Bank Publications - Books, The World Bank Group, number 2594, December.
    14. Grant Miller & Diana Pinto & Marcos Vera-Hernández, 2013. "Risk Protection, Service Use, and Health Outcomes under Colombia's Health Insurance Program for the Poor," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(4), pages 61-91, October.
    15. Milind Kumar Yadav & Pratap C. Mohanty, 2021. "Determinants of choice of health insurance: Empirical evidence from responses of Indian households," International Journal of Health Planning and Management, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(5), pages 1809-1829, September.
    16. Lin, Lin & Zai, Xianhua, 2022. "The Power of Public Insurance With Limited Benefits: Evidence from China's New Cooperative Medical Scheme," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1180, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    17. Rajat Deb & Tapash Paul & Jaharlal Debbarma & Kiran Sankar Chakraborty, 2020. "Breaking the Stigma of Health Insurance," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 45(1), pages 54-84, February.
    18. Gnawali, Devendra Prasad & Pokhrel, Subhash & Sié, Ali & Sanon, Mamadou & De Allegri, Manuela & Souares, Aurélia & Dong, Hengjin & Sauerborn, Rainer, 2009. "The effect of community-based health insurance on the utilization of modern health care services: Evidence from Burkina Faso," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 90(2-3), pages 214-222, May.
    19. Van Minh, Hoang & Kim Phuong, Nguyen Thi & Saksena, Priyanka & James, Chris D. & Xu, Ke, 2013. "Financial burden of household out-of pocket health expenditure in Viet Nam: Findings from the National Living Standard Survey 2002–2010," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 258-263.
    20. Rebecca L. Thornton & Laurel E. Hatt & Erica M. Field & Mursaleena Islam & Freddy Solís Diaz & Martha Azucena González, 2010. "Social security health insurance for the informal sector in Nicaragua: a randomized evaluation," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(S1), pages 181-206, September.
    21. Hou, Xiaohui & Chao, Shiyan, 2011. "Targeted or untargeted? The initial assessment of a targeted health insurance program for the poor in Georgia," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(2), pages 278-285.
    22. Palmer, Michael & Mitra, Sophie & Mont, Daniel & Groce, Nora, 2015. "The impact of health insurance for children under age 6 in Vietnam: A regression discontinuity approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 217-226.
    23. Sophie Mitra & Michael Palmer & Daniel Mont & Nora Groce, 2016. "Can Households Cope with Health Shocks in Vietnam?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(7), pages 888-907, July.
    24. Fink, Günther & Robyn, Paul Jacob & Sié, Ali & Sauerborn, Rainer, 2013. "Does health insurance improve health?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1043-1056.

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    Keywords

    Health Monitoring&Evaluation; Health Economics&Finance; Housing&Human Habitats; Health Law; Health Systems Development&Reform;
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